In an article by Richard Luscombe in The Guardian called “Father of killed US military member disputes Hegseth’s claim he said to ‘finish’ the job in Iran” yet another story by a Trump direct report comes to the forefront. They seem to be following their boss down the rabbit hole.

The subheading speaks to the refuted claim: “Defense secretary had said relatives of service members killed in refueling tanker crash told him ‘do not stop until the job is done.’” Here are select paragraphs.

“The father of a US military member killed in the Iran war has contradicted Pete Hegseth’s claim that bereaved families urged him to ‘finish’ the job in the Middle East.

Hegseth, the defense secretary and a former weekend Fox News host, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday that he had spoken with relatives of all six service members killed in last week’s refueling tanker crashduring a ‘dignified transfer’ of their remains at Delaware’s Dover air force station the night before….

However, on Thursday night, Charles Simmons, the father of Tech Sgt Tyler Simmons, 28, from Ohio, said he had no such conversation.

‘I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,’ he told NBC News.

Simmons said he had spoken separately with Hegseth and Donald Trump at the military base, and was grateful for the ‘warmth’ he said both men had shown him. But he recounted his meeting with the defense secretary differs.”

While I am glad Mr. Simmons felt warmth from Messers. Hegseth and Trump, it continues to puzzle me why the latter two are prone to embellish stories when they really don’t serve a purpose. Trump is well known to lie and embellish. Since employees take cues from leaders, Trump staff tend to lie and embellish as well.